Three
by DP-san
Summary: Love isn't as perfect as the fairy tales claim. Slight Shounen-Ai.
1. Three

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Three  
By Wusai, the Dark Phantasy

Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.  
Claimer: I own my thoughts, opinions, and ideas.  
A/N: Whee. Yoh centered. OOC Yoh. Yep.

***  
Yoh's POV  
***

Sometimes I just feel so... _confused._  
  
I wake up in the morning, the sun shining in my face. I hurridly dress. I walk outside my room, and there she is. I give her a nice, cheerful greeting. She gives me a cold glance in return. Sure, we like each other, and everyone expects us to be _together._ I mean, sometimes your expectations are wrong. Right?  
  
I run outside on my daily, thirty-mile jog. He follows me on his bike. I smile at him, having him smile back. He's quite a worrywort, but I like him all the same.  
  
Then. We pass _his_ house. I look up briefly. Was that a flash of purple I saw? I don't know. I look back down, not wanting to attract any attention from my companion.  
  
It's just so _confusing_.  
  
Everyone knows about her and me, and everyone expects us to love each other and care for each other. Sure, we talk. But never around other people. Sometimes I feel like we're just friends. I don't really know her _that_ well.  
  
Then, there's the little one pedaling next to me. He's my best friend, and I know him better than I know _her_. We're really supposed to be just friends, but sometimes I feel closer to him... We share hugs and all, and once I even dared to peck him on the cheek. He just blushed cutely. Often, our friends who're homophobes look at us quite strangely. I just shrug and say, 'We're best friends!'  
  
Lastly, there's him. The dark one. In the beginning, we never really associated. He was just _there_, I was just _there_, both of us knew that we were _there_. Then, I chanced a friendly relationship, and I got to know him a lot better. That time when we had to go and rescue him from his father's house, I put my arm around him, and he nearly fainted. I want to do that again.  
  
Often, I also feel _guilty_ along with my feeling of _confusion_.  
  
Whenever I see her, I get this feeling in my throat, and I want to look away. Oh, no, it's not that I hate her. I like her, she, supposedly, likes me, and almost everyone knows that. I feel so _guilty_, though, when I look at her, and it makes me want to look away. I'm supposed to like her. I tell my friends that I like her, and she likes me, and they're happy for us. Somehow, I feel like that's a lie... the part about liking, that is.  
  
It's hard to like not two people at the same time, but _three_.  
  
I continuously wonder why I can't give up two of them. I've tried to, again and again, but I never seem to succeed.  
  
I _would_ give her up, but I really don't want to hurt her feelings. Even if she's so cold toward me, I feel that she's a lot warmer underneath that icy layer. People encourage me to go melt that layer, get to know her, and live a happy life. Nuh-uh. Not that easy.  
  
I steal a glance at my friend. We _know_ that we like each other, but we never admit it to each other. No one else knows. They just think we're close friends. We, or rather _I_, often tell him, 'I love you!', then hug him. Of course, when I say it, I'm half-joking, and he knows that. Sometimes, though, I'm not joking.  
  
The dark one... Through about a year of awkwardness, I finally reached out to him. During that year, I'd always look at him. Sometimes I even stared. People would often ask, 'Do you like him or something? Wait, don't answer. I mean, you look like a girl and all, but, boys don't go with boys.' I always felt hurt when people knew my secret. Of course, they didn't know that they knew, but it was just painful all the same. Knowing that I could never be with him.  
  
I ignored that pain. I insisted on reaching him. My efforts finally paid off, and now I can talk to him freely. No more blush. No more stammering. He certainly _is_ acting kind of different, though one would only notice if one looked for it. Maybe he feels the same way...?  
  
It really hurts. Knowing you could never be with someone. Just because your attention wanders oh-so-much. I think a tear just slipped out of my eye. Thank God he thinks it's just another bead of sweat.  
  
Sometimes I feel like I understand a female PMSing. I sometimes feel like that. Just not with the mood. It's the romance.  
  
Sometimes I feel like I like her more than the others, sometimes I feel like I like my friend more than the others, sometimes I feel like I like the dark one more than the others. Why am I feeling so... confused?  
  
We're finally back at the house. I say 'Ja ne!' to my little companion, then run inside, ready to plop into the nice, warm onsen. On my way to get a change of clothes, I pass her again. I look away, feeling her eyes on me. "After you're out of the onsen, cook my dinner," she said. I groan inwardly. Yes, I do like her, if it's only a little bit, but I don't think I can actually _marry_ her...  
  
I take off my clothes, and sink into the onsen. Maybe this will help me mull over my thoughts, and maybe decide... like I've been hoping for the past year...

***

A/N: Was he too OOC, a little OOC, or just like himself? :3? Please review.


	2. Two

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Three  
By Wusai, the Dark Phantasy

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King.  
Claimer: I own my ideas.  
A/N: x_X I had no intentions of continuing this. This takes place who knows when. Just after the first chapter. :3

***   
Yoh's POV  
***

I hate this feeling. I hate it.  
  
Anna's not herself any more. Sure, every memory I have of her has me crying in the end. But she's just different. Maybe it was the time. When I was little, I didn't care about her brutality or her fierceness. I loved her, nonetheless. Now, I feel like she's only my friend.  
  
Only my friend.  
  
I sigh. At least now, I only have to decide between two. I lay back on the soft, green grass, and stare at the stars above. Manta used to ask me why I did this. He asked me why I waste my time staring at the stars. Well, why _not_? The stars have been around as long as the Earth, and people have to go setting up lights everywhere and destroy the stars.  
  
"Hi."  
  
I turn to face the owner of the voice behind me. Tao Ren. I smile.  
  
"Yo!" I say, raising my hand in the normal greeting. We've grown closer. Now, he calls me his friend. I say that I'm his friend, too, but deep inside, I'm aching to be closer than friends. But that can't happen.  
  
"What?"  
  
I realize that I'm staring at him, then shift my gaze from him to the stars. A slight blush tinges my cheeks. The image of his face stays in my mind. His golden eyes seemed to have glowed with a light of their own. His hair, which Horo Horo and I call a 'shark fin', shimmers soft amethyst in the moonlight.  
  
"Aren't the stars pretty?" I ask, dreamily. Whether I'm thinking about the stars or him, I can't tell.  
"Yes," he responds.  
"Why are you here?" I hope I'm not sounding harsh. It's just that we rarely go here at the same time.  
"Do you want me to leave?"  
"No, no, of course not!" I say, hoping that I'm not sounding desperate for his company.  
"I felt like I wanted to see the stars. That's all."  
"Ok."  
  
We stay silent for a while longer, looking at the stars. He then gets up, and dusts the grass from his pants.  
  
"Ja ne," I say, sadly.  
"Zai jian," he replies.  
  
I watch him walk away. Sighing, I get up as well. On my way back home, I see Manta in the park, reading his Math book. Why is it that everywhere I turn, I see one of the three?!  
  
"Yo," I say to him. He looks up, and, seeing me, slips a bookmark into his book.  
"Hello. Were you staring at the stars again?" he asks.  
"Yes. You shouldn't study so much; you're missing the beauty of life," I respond.  
"Oh. I'll join you some other day."  
"Great!"  
  
I bend down and hug him, quickly.  
  
"How has your day been?" I ask. He seems slightly shocked that I hugged him. Oh well.  
"Wonderful. You?"  
"Confusing," I admit.  
"Why so?"  
"Oh... there are just some things that I can't understand. I don't think you'll be able to understand, either."  
"I see."  
"I better get going, before Anna throws another pot at me. Ja ne," I say, waving goodbye. Manta waves back, and I walk back home.

***

A/N: X3 I've decided that _Three_ will be a collection of twisted romance fics. X_X Please review.


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